ICCA Congress set to boost Edinburgh economy by £2m

Edinburgh will host the biennial International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) Congress 2020 at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC). It is estimated that the congress will be a £2 million boost to the local economy that will see over 1,200 delegates in attendance.

Edinburgh has won its bid by beating off competition from Copenhagen, Stockholm, Vienna, St Petersburg, Vancouver and Mexico City. the bid process was led by a partnership comprising the Scottish Arbitration Centre, the EICC, Convention Edinburgh, Conference Partners and VisitScotland and supported by a high profile team including the UK Prime Minister, Scotland’s First Minister and representatives of the national and international arbitration and legal communities.

The ICCA’s 2020 Congress, which is supported by VisitScotland’s Conference Bid Fund, is the world’s largest conference devoted to international arbitration.

Rory Archibald, Business Development Manager at VisitScotland, said: “Winning the right to host the ICC World Congress is another coup for Edinburgh, and is testimony to the capital’s enormous appeal to conference organisers, as a city which boasts cutting-edge facilities as well as incredible history and heritage. Business events is an industry worth nearly £2 billion to the Scottish economy and we are delighted to be supporting this prestigious event through the VisitScotland Conference Bid Fund.”

ICCA President, Donald Donovan, said: “We are delighted to be going to Edinburgh in 2020, and congratulate the bid committee on having prevailed in the face of stiff competition from a strong field of bidders. After recent ICCA Congresses held in Rio, Singapore and Miami, this year's event in Mauritius, and a 2018 Congress scheduled for Sydney, ICCA looks forward to bringing the Congress to Europe in 2020. We're confident that ICCA Edinburgh will provide a spectacular platform from which to pursue ICCA's mission to address the toughest issues facing international commercial and investment arbitration."